Keep Breathing
by chekiita
Summary: Auror Harry Potter is on a mission and he is late. witness the consecuences of his actions and join him on his quest for a lost artifact and maybe a little bit of love. ok weird summary but it's a great story even if I say so myself so please read it
1. Eighty percent of success is showing up

IT HAD TO BE YOU By: Chekiita Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. Are not of my property. I just use them a little.  
  
A/N: this is not betaed please if anyone would like to do it please let me know!  
  
Ch. 1: Eighty percent of success is showing up. Woody Allen  
  
He was late, he was supposed to meet his contact at 11:30 PM on the "blue parrot", a shady bar on the dark side of Shanghai and he was late. 11:45 and he wasn't even near the bar, hell, he wasn't even near the dark side. "Damn" he looked at his watch for the 10nth time in 15 minutes, "I'm not going to make it." The driver looked at him through the rearview mirror so he fell quiet. You never know who might understand you. He didn't dare use magic just in case he'd leave a trail. It was hard enough to get this hearing with the contact, if he was followed it'd be ruined. All he knew about their contact was his code-name Maltese. Male he assumed. One of the best delinquents in the world. A thieve, no, not A thieve, THE thieve. A muggle too and they needed his help. Remus had sent him because he was the best. It was also because only five people knew about this operation: Remus Lupin Head auror of the Ministry of Magic and the one who had contacted Maltese; Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and outside consultant for the Ministry; Severus Snape Potions Master and another consultant, he came up with the information; Arthur Weasley Minister of Magic and himself, Harry Potter, Auror and action man. The four others were the brains and he was the muscle. He usually had the inside information for every mission. However this time it seemed only Snape had the inside story of this Maltese person, and he wasn't even sure he knew who this person was.  
  
He arrived at half past 12. Maltese would be gone. The man did not sound very patient. His green eyes scanned the inside of the place, he found the bar and sat on a stool facing the door. He ordered a glass of water and waited. Bartender: How's it going in there? Harry: Longest hour of my life. Bartender: What? Harry: I'm running away with your wife. Bartender: Great He brought the water, which was murky brown with who knows what swimming inside: Harry: You call this water? Bartender: It's wet, ain't it? Drink it!  
  
Harry was looking at it with mistrust when an old man approached him. He eyed the stout, short man with black beard and a mane of long and dirty black hair. Green eyes met black, this cannot be Maltese. The old man was definitively not a native. When he spoke he had a heavy accent "The one you wait for has left", it was a clear and to the point statement. Harry let a sigh escape him. He had failed. His head fell into his hands and didn't realize the man was speaking again. "...not patient but will give you another chance, follow me." Harry couldn't believe his luck. He checked for his wand in his back pocket before following this stranger. He stopped. The password, the code, he was being careless. "aren't you forgetting something?" the old man turned and gave a small chuckle, "indeed I am"  
  
Old man: "Judging from your eyes, I'd say you were fifty."  
  
Harry: "Judging from your eyes, I'd say you were kind"[1]  
  
"ahh you are who you claim to be, are you satisfied?" "yes I am you can never be too cautious" "No you can't I was instructed to kill you if you didn't ask" "Then it's a good thing I did..." Harry sounded more calm that how he felt. He eyed the old man with the corner of his eye and asked him his name. "I'm Rasputin, you can call me Ras, I am Corto's associate" They shook hands. "Neville Black" this had been his code name since he became an auror. Neville after his friend who gave his life for him and Black for his late godfather. It made him remember, kept him sharp.  
  
Flashback:  
  
It was the summer before his fifth year and harry was sitting on the stairs with Sirius, just hanging out. When Sirius turned to his godson "don't ever let anyone make you feel like you don't deserve what you want". Harry was a bit disoriented. "Ok... don't worry I won't". They sat there until Mrs. Weasley came to scold them for not helping with the cleaning. He never asked Sirius about this episode. By the time he remembered it was too late, Sirius was dead.  
  
End Flashback  
  
They continued to walk through dingy streets up to a path that led them out of the low side and into the mountains. 3 hours latter they were still walking. Harry was exhausted, "is it far?" It was the first time either said a word since their greeting. Climbing the mountain "it's not far Mr. Black, I'm sorry we have to walk but you were late and lost your ride". There was no malice in Ras's voice, but harry knew he was right, so he picked up his pace and kept his mouth shut. Ras passed him some water but nothing else was said.  
  
The sky had cleared by the time Ras stopped. Harry could feel the sun coming up, and as they reached the top of the hill, the young auror could see a small house on the other side. "This is it". The old man led him to the chalet and an old Asian woman opened the door. Ras took of his shoes and motioned for harry to do the same which he did hurriedly.  
  
"Mr. Black you are to rest until Maltese calls you, this is Mey she will lead you to your room". He sensed Harry's apprehension and added "you have nothing to worry about here, your sleep will be protected". The young man took a deep breath, his legs hurt, he was tired and really needed to sleep. So he followed Mey towards the back of the house and fell soundly asleep.  
  
Hours latter harry felt a ray of light on his face. He retrieved his glasses from the nightstand on the right side of the bed and found Ras smiling from the doorway. "Good morning Mr. Black, breakfast is served, if you'd like to refresh before meeting Maltese there is a bathroom down the hall, first door to the right. The food and my friend are waiting in the backyard". He moved into the room and pointed towards a closet, "there are some clean clothes in these drawers, take a shower, change and then we'll get down to business". Harry nodded. He was very confused, not so much by the hospitality, but because he hadn't slept so soundly in years. 15 minutes latter he was wearing black slacks, a white button-down shirt and black socks. On his way to the back yard he was surprised when he didn't hear a sound. It was such a small house and he knew there were at least 3 other people around, it shouldn't be so quiet. He gripped his wand in his right hand and walked towards the back entrance where he found the empty backyard. There was a table with food on it but no Maltese, no Ras and no Mey. His reason told him to be on his toes but his senses made him feel oddly safe.  
  
He sat in the small table surveying it's contents. A basket full of bread, croissants, bagels, and others he couldn't quite name. Orange juice with ice, fresh butter and three kinds of jam: strawberry, one that looked like blackberry and peach? He tasted it, yes peach.  
  
Flashback:  
  
"Normal people have strawberry jam or blackberry or honey with their toast, not peach marmalade". Harry looked at her with fake disgust in his face. "You should know by now dear I am far from normal" was her answer, as she licked the remains from her marmalade off her fingers.  
  
7 years latter I'm still thinking of her. There was also a jug full of milk and 4 different kinds of cereal weird also some fruit cut in pieces.  
  
"Now you're making me sick". Harry turned to her. "What?" she took a piece of fruit and dunked it into her cereal. "Every day is the same, it's either toast and jam or porridge and very rarely eggs and bacon, it completely gives away your mood" harry scowled as she brought another spoonful into her mouth. "Ok madam Sinistra, what is my mood today?" he took a punch to his arm for that one but she smiled in a wicked sort of way. "Very well, let's see, toast and jam, no butter, something is troubling you. Coffee not pumpkin juice, you didn't get much sleep last night" she made a pause and looked into his eyes smiling, "so, feeling rather upset with Ron today? I can only imagine what he said now." He tried to answer but she held up her hand to stop him, "you didn't sleep last night, I'm still trying to figure out what the egg means". He laughed at this, "please don't tell mione, her nagging doesn't help" he took a bite off his toast, "so, I'm an open book huh?"  
  
Ras came trashing the back door. He was clearly upset. "Leave" he screamed at Harry's face. "Ras what the hell is going on? Where's Maltese?" he tried to reason but Ras was beyond reasoning. "Leave I said, and tell your boss the deal is off. Who do you think you are? Coming here..." he was rambling and harry could see he was very violent. The auror training kicked in and Harry had his hand on his wand in a second. "You won't be needing that Mr. Potter", Mey called from the steps. Harry was in shock, she knew his name, the real one! But she didn't even notice, "Ras calm down, he doesn't know. Get the horses ready." Rasputin glared at Harry but did as told. Now Harry felt his confusion turn into rising anger, "what the hell is going on? What is this I don't know?" He still had his wand out and it hadn't occurred to him that this muggle woman shouldn't know what it was. "I repeat, you won't be needing that Mr. Potter, all you need to know is that you won't be meeting Maltese today, you are to tell Headmaster Dumbledore that this was not the agreement and that it is doubtful there will be a third chance." "Third chance?" this woman kept confusing Harry even more. "You wouldn't have gotten this far if it hadn't been for your tardiness. Have some breakfast and leave Mr. Potter there's nothing for you here." Harry had come too far and he wouldn't take no for an answer. He had walked for 5 hours trying to get here and he wasn't going to leave with out at least trying to accomplish his mission. He ran past Mey and searcher every room in the house for this Maltese person but it was empty. Mey's soothing voice startled him, "they left while you were outside. Dumbledore knew this would happen, he shouldn't have sent you".  
  
Now this was getting weirder by the second. He was extremely confused, "Who's they?" she gave him a knowing smile and answered "Maltese and white dragon" who the hell is white dragon? He didn't have time to voice his question because Ras came n the doorway, "the horses are ready". Mey gave him a parcel with his clothes, "you can keep those, white dragon won't miss them". He wanted to ask more questions but a look from Mey told him it would be useless. He followed the old man outside. There were 2 black Arab horses waiting. Ras called to the animals, they obeyed and smelled Harry's hair. One puffed and cleared away from him while the other one gave him a little nudge of approval. At this Ras lost his hostile demeanor. "Draco likes you" Harry froze, "excuse me?" "Draco, the horse, he likes you, and it's a good thing he does, if he hadn't you would have had to walk back to Shanghai, Pansy here is a bit more temperamental." "Pansy?" "What are you deaf? Yes Pansy the one with the black mane, Draco is the one with the white one." "I'm sorry I'm just familiar with the names" "Oh! The names, white dragon wasn't very happy with them. Maltese named Draco first and seeing this made him furious named the other one Pansy just to spite him." "Where did they come from? The names I mean?" "I honestly don't know, when I asked Maltese just said they were people they used to know." He petted Pansy's mane and turned to Harry. "I'm sorry for my outburst, you're a nice enough guy. I just don't like being lied to, or seeing Maltese upset. It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Black, sorry, Mr. Potter, take care". They shook hands. Harry climbed on Draco's back this is just weird. "How do I get back?" "Don't worry, Draco Knows the way, when you get to your destination just get off he knows the way back." "Goodbye then Ras, Thank you". "Goodbye Mr. Potter, take care."  
  
Harry rode towards the city. The horse Indeed knew the way so he let his mind wonder. Draco and Pansy... haven't heard those names in a while. I don't think this is a coincidence... when he was far enough from the house he made the horse stop, climbed off him and let him go just in case it's an animagus. When the horse was no longer in sight, he took off the chain he was wearing and with a spell, activated the portkey that would take him back to England.  
  
AN: Hi I hope anyone reads this and likes it, please review! I have up to Chapter 5 written and will update weekly if anyone is interested. Also, I'm a fan of Corto Maltese which is a french cartoon and I shamelessly take a lot from it for this story but you don't have to know it to understand this. ----------------------- [1] As good as it gets, melvin to carol. 


	2. THE QUESTIONS or He who asks is a fool f...

Ok, here's chp 2, and not one review. I'll keep posting up to chp 5 which is all I have written if I receive at least one review I'll keep going if not, I'll give up writing all together.  
  
I forgot to say that there will be some OC's but not quite. There's a theory in the hplexicon that there are 2 missing Gryffindors and I use that in this story but since we don't know a thing about them then they are kind of original characters. Bear with me please...  
  
Ch. 2: THE QUESTIONS or He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. Chinese Proverb  
  
Harry was sitting in Dumbledore's office. Remus was at his right; Snape leaned against a wall; Arthur to his left and the Headmaster right in front of them. The young auror had just finished briefing them on his mission and the others were deep in thought.  
  
"Headmaster will you answer my questions? I feel like I'm 15 all over again and we all know how well keeping things from me turned out" Harry was getting angry by the second. Things didn't add up and Mey's words kept ringing in the back of his head Dumbledore knew this would happen... Albus Dumbledore took a deep breath before answering "yes, I know Harry, Maltese wanted to speak with Remus but given the nearness of the full moon I decided it would be best if you went in his stead". "Who are Corto Maltese and White Dragon?" Silence... "If you knew this would happen why did you insist on me going?" More silence... "Is Corto Maltese Draco Malfoy?" Remus broke the silence "where do you get that?" "The horses' names" "Look Harry, this is what we know" Remus looked at the other men for approval and after Dumbledore nodded he proceeded, "We don't know who this Maltese person is. We do know he attended Hogwarts during your third year because he calls me professor and that's the only time I've ever taught. So, he's a wizard. He is not Draco Malfoy. His doings have been going on years before Malfoy disappeared. We believe Malfoy is White Dragon. We have no proof of this, only a series of coincidences." He took a pause, pondering how to continue, "We do need his help and although I could have gone and talked to him, it was too high a risk so given that he's probably someone close to your age, he would respond better to you. On the other hand there was the animosity between you and Malfoy, we felt it was better to withhold this information from you just in case he wasn't around." Harry laughed at this, "what am I? A child? Would I back down from a mission just because Malfoy might be involved? I fought a war besides Snape for crying out loud!" Snape's scowl turned into a smile "He's got a point you know?"  
  
The meeting was adjourned and Dumbledore motioned Harry to stay, "you know Harry, you should go see Hagrid. It's been a while since you've been here, he'll be happy to see you" Harry nodded and left. More disappointed than he wanted to admit, he believed he would find the answers he had been seeking in this meeting from these men but he came out more confused than anything. None of his questions were answered and a feeling of uneasiness kept him from breathing normally. A walk through the grounds should help me shake this off...  
  
He walked slowly through the halls of his old school, memories drifting back. Running through these halls with Ron and Hermione latte to class or sneaking under his invisibility cloak late at night looking for the answer to some mystery.  
  
Flashback:  
  
He was sitting in the trophy room, polishing trophies by hand on one of his many detentions. Snape came in with someone behind him, Harry couldn't see who. "Very well, if you haven't changed your mind..." She shook her head no. "Then you'll be serving detention here, helping Mr. Potter polish the trophies without the use of magic" He offered her a rag and holding her head high she proceeded to sit besides Harry and started to polish. Green eyes glanced at her and recognized her as Emma Duskwell, a fellow Gryffindor from his year. They never talked much, he didn't quite remember why. Harry had never seen anyone act like that in front of Snape and he felt a new kind of respect for this girl. They worked in silence for a while until she broke it.  
  
"When you think the whole world's against you, remember, some of the smaller countries don't care at all"  
  
Harry was baffled, what was she talking about, "what?" She just looked at him and shrugged. 20 minutes passed before she spoke again, "you know Harry, you shouldn't feel so bad for loosing house points" Well that was just plain weird, so Harry asked for the second time this evening "what?" This time she kept talking "Did you know Professor Dumbledore has the school record for more points lost during one year?" Harry was shocked and curious, "really? Who's second?" "Well that depends" "On what?" "If we take it by individuals the second would be Sirius Black, then Professor McGonagall and then your father" "My dad?" "Aha, but if you take it by groups then there's Black and his friends, your father, Remus Lupin and Peter something, then the Weasley twins and then Thomas and Angie Figgs" "How do you know all this?" "Research, my father is #9 on the individuals list and my mom never lost a house point in her seven years of school of course she never went to Hogwarts so..." She had been very serious up until the last part and that was the first time Harry Potter saw Emma Duskwell smile. He found himself leaving his depression and smiled back. That was one of his best detentions ever and the first time he saw a glimpse at her love of lists.  
  
End Flashback  
  
He left the trophy room and headed towards the Quiditch pitch remembering games, wins and friends. As he got there he sat on the Ravenclaw stands and another memory hit him.  
  
Flashback  
  
He was flying, watching the game and looking for the snitch at the same time. He spotted it flying behind the right pole of his team's side, he flew towards it and a second latter he could feel Malfoy at his side, he had seen it too. He could hear Seamus, Lee Jordan's replacement as narrator, at the back of his head "well bite my but and call me an apple, there goes Harry and Malfoy chasing the snitch" Harry sped up, stretched his hand and caught it. Everything was a blur for a while. He felt Ron congratulate him and Colin taking pictures. He turned to the left and his heart took a leap when he saw her comforting Draco Malfoy. He was swept off his feet and carried towards the Gryffindor common room.  
  
Later that evening: "What was that all about?" "What was what all about?" "Don't play games with me, I saw you with Malfoy" She smiled at his irate face but didn't answer. "I've been looking for you for hours, where you with him?" "Don't be insecure Harry, he's my friend. You won, he lost, he needed my support you didn't" He felt his rage subside, she smiled at him and all seemed well in the world just because she smiled.  
  
End flashback  
  
This was getting out of hand. He hadn't had a thought about her in months but ever since Shanghai, memories of her came flashing every five minutes, a smell, a place, a sound, anything would trigger the memories and he'd be lost to them. Enough Potter you lost her, she's gone, get over it, he took a deep breath and left. Hagrid was more than happy to see him. They drank awful tea and ate or tried to eat dry pastries. The half giant was as youthful as ever but he never really got over his physical wounds or loosing his half brother. The bond between them had grown and during the final battle Hagrid was fighting two giants and was loosing badly, but just as one had a boulder in his arms and was about to smash his head with it, Garp intervened and although he killed the 2 giants he was very hurt and by the time healers got to him it was too late. He was dead and Hagrid was never the same. He lost the shine in his eyes.  
  
Harry left Hogwarts more sad and confused than when he arrived that morning. 


End file.
